Training Byron

Aw, sounds like he got pretty upset! I'm sure this is just a temporary setback. As you clearly understand, patience is going to be really important. You have far, far more of it than I do. Sounds like you have the right corrective approach.

Speaking of bird trauma, Cupcake went to the vet for a brief checkup because she had been sneezing late last week, and of course they concluded everything was fine, but for whatever reason this visit was extremely traumatic for her. Probably because I let them take her into the back without us with her for a nail trim, which I will never do again. I have never seen her so scared. It was sad. She's fine now, but I'm wondering what's going to happen the next time we have to go back! Gah.

As Shah is used to going to the vet, there is no issue when he is taken away from me. Pippin is another story and screams until he can see me.

Beccilouise, take the harness away for a week or so. Give him a rest from it. It is obvious by his reaction that you are doing too much, too quickly. I have the same problem with Izzie if I try and push her too hard in a training session, then the next time I see her, she refuses to do anything including letting me catch her. So you tend to think that you are back to square one but that isn't quite true. They do remember what they have been taught and when you introduce the training again, they pick it up a lot faster.

Thanks guys, I wish I'd seen this post earlier, as I did the same treat-training with him today as I did yesterday. He was a little more confident today, however, but perhaps you are right and he deserves a little break. He's chirping away quite happily, preening and cleaning his feet on top of his play gym at the moment with the harness hanging beneath him, so it's obviously not bothering him TOO much, which is good. But perhaps I should not push him too hard to interact with it directly over the next few days, just as you say.

Poor little Cupcake! Byron isn't too happy about the vet either and scrambles onto my shoulder at every opportunity, but the vet is very taken with him and so Byron is slowly getting used to it. You've all said to me that these birds are pretty good at adapting and bouncing back so long as we are all mindful of their needs, and so far I have found that to be true. I'm sure that Cupcake will get used to it the more she goes, so long as she is always reassured and taken care of after, which you will always do.

I'm reading a book at the moment called 'Of Parrots And People', which is very good, but is also making me terrified (again) that Byron will be unhappy. In a way, though, I've come to see this guilt as important in helping me to give him and Cleo, my bunny, as full and rich a life as possible. The good thing about being an artist is that I make my own work and, most of the time, Byron can travel with me so he's not on his own. When he is in his cage and I'm not there, the bunny is there too so there is at least another living animal in the room with him. I guess we worry about our little feathered dinosaurs because they're not really pets, but companions. I'm sure both Byron and Cupcake will be fine, and Jan and Biteybird, thanks for the advice, I will give Byron a reprieve from harness training until next week or so.

Hahaha, they're so funny! I filmed Byron messing about and squawking on his play gym earlier, and freaking himself out with the swing. Then I played it back with him in the room without thinking. At the sound of another parrot in the room, he went CUH-RAZY! You know that really obnoxious noise they make that sounds like a cross between a chainsaw backfiring and a steelworks factory in full swing? Yeah, that one. I'm not sure what the noise meant, but he did not LOOK happy at all, his feathers were all flattened apart from the ones at the nape of his neck which were all standing up, he had his wings out a little and was screaming away. I've read that posture means 'anger' or 'aggression'. It only stopped when I lifted him up on my finger and showed him every inch of the living room to prove there were no other quaker 'affairs' hiding beneath the furniture! Hilarious. He's only 7 and a half months old, so I don't know how sexually motivated it was, maybe it was just the idea of another bird in his space that he got unhappy about.

Training wise, we did target training today and he loves it. I think now that he understands the 'game' of it, he quite enjoys it. I show him a treat, I hold up the stick, I say 'target', he beaks the stick, then the treat is delivered to him. He's getting so good at it that I can hold the treat at one end of his perch and the target stick at the other. When I say 'target' he will sidle AWAY from the treat and beak the stick, knowing this means the treat gets brought to him. He's such a clever boy! I made such a ridiculously excitable fuss of him that David couldn't stop laughing.

I also like Oscar to hear other birds so I find them on Utube mostly. Oscar shows a lot of interest but he won't call out to them. I also love showing him the other QP's in the bathroom mirrors. If I hold him centre to the mirrors... he can see 5 QP's at one time. Course they are all him. All he does in pretend to clean under his wing... but that usually means.. "no thanks". lol

I find it weird that he didn't recognise his own noises! Bonnie doesn't freak out when she sees video of herself (we only have one or two), but she tries to answer the calls of the birdie on the computer.

Either that or my bird is particularly 'special' bless him.